In short:
A WA grain farmer has found a gold ring lodged in the roots of a cabbage plant.
The punnet of cabbage seedlings came from a Perth nursery, but the ring is suspected to have come from overseas.
What’s next?
Attempts have been made to find the owner, but the nursery supervisor says the ring could have come from “anywhere in the world”.
When Alan Sandwell purchased a punnet of seedlings he never imagined the budding cabbages within would reveal lost treasure from a world away.
The Katanning grain and sheep farmer, who lives about 280 kilometres south-east of Perth, has sown millions of seeds in his life.
But unlike the golden wheat and canola he grows on his 4,000-hectare property, the leafy vegetable purchased from his local hardware store hid a precious surprise.
“I thought it was a gold coin, but then I realised there was dirt in the middle and it was a round gold ring,” he said.
The former school teacher also helps manage a vegetable patch at the local aged care facility where the discovery was made.
If not for a stroke of luck, the ring could easily have been consigned to the earth.
“There were two seedlings in the one punnet, so I carefully broke it in half to plant both of them and about halfway down there’s this gold band,” Mr Sandwell said.
“When I pulled it out, it was actually a ring.
“Had there not been two seedlings in that punnet, I would’ve never found it — I just would have planted it in the ground and it would have stayed there.”
Search for owner
The ornate ring, perforated and carved, appeared to be of some worth even to Mr Sandwell’s untrained eye.
“It looked like it could have been a dress ring of some value,” he said.
“The fact that it had been in the soil for that long and hadn’t tarnished at all meant it was a fairly high-quality metal, which is probably gold.”
Sentimental or otherwise, he knew the ring would hold value to its original owner and set off on a mission to reunite the two.
“The company that I bought the seedlings from contacted their supplier in Perth, who then contacted their seedling centre,” Mr Sandwell said.
International intrigue
Messages that a golden ring had been found in a cabbage seedling punnet reached nursery staff where the seedlings were grown.
A response came almost immediately.
“One of the ladies there responded pretty quickly that she had lost one,” Mr Sandwell said.
“The chances of finding it were so slim, this lady obviously thought, ‘Well, that’s it. I’ve lost it. It’s gone.'”
But the jubilation was short-lived — a photo sent to the nursery revealed that Mr Sandwell’s ring was not hers.
“Unfortunately it’s not our ring,” nursery supervisor Joanne Renton said.
“Her ring had a diamond in it.”
She said the seedlings were planted in a mix that included imported peat moss, which was the likely vessel for the stowaway ring.
“The moss came from Holland six months ago,” Ms Renton said.
“It could be from anywhere in the world.”
